Government reimbursements for insurance company losses limited to amounts collected from profitable insurers (reimbursement fund must be revenue neutral)

Of interest to financial advisors, the legislation:

Does not prevent the Department of Labor from finalizing and implementing the proposed IRA account fiduciary rules

Does not make significant changes to Dodd-Frank

Andrew H. Friedman is the principal of The Washington Update LLC and a former senior partner in a Washington, D.C. law firm. He and his colleague Jeff Bush speak regularly on legislative and regulatory developments and trends affecting investment, insurance, and retirement products. They may be reached at www.TheWashingtonUpdate.com.

The authors of this paper are not providing legal or tax advice as to the matters discussed herein. The discussion herein is general in nature and is provided for informational purposes only. There is no guarantee as to its accuracy or completeness. It is not intended as legal or tax advice and individuals may not rely upon it (including for purposes of avoiding tax penalties imposed by the IRS or state and local tax authorities). Individuals should consult their own legal and tax counsel as to matters discussed herein and before entering into any estate planning, trust, investment, retirement, or insurance arrangement.

Congress returns from recess next week facing a month-end deadline to fund government operations for the next fiscal year. I’m concerned we could be looking at a reprise of 2013. That year, the federal government shut down on October 1 for sixteen days over a Republican proposal to defund the Affordable Care Act. Now, Republicans are talking about defunding Planned Parenthood, a proposal the President is almost certain to veto. More broadly, there is significant disagreement on funding for social programs generally (the President wants increased funding; the Republicans are calling for social program cuts). If these disagreements cannot be breached, the government faces an October 1 shutdown.

The difference this time is when the debt limit must be raised to allow the federal government to borrow additional funds. In 2013, the government ran out of money and had to borrow by mid-October, setting up an incontrovertible deadline that Congress had to address, reopening the government in the process. This year, we’re told that the government will not need to borrow more money before November or even December. So, if the government shuts down, what will force Congress to compromise and reopen it in the near term?

Historically, markets often are volatile as fiscal deadlines approach and Congress appears unable to agree on a solution – until it does. Investors might consider taking action to protect against volatility until these deadlines have been addressed. More aggressive investors might view a pullback as a buying opportunity; markets tend to recover nicely after Congress finally agrees to raise the nation’s borrowing limit (as Congress invariably will do here, likely at the last possible moment).

Andrew H. Friedman is the principal of The Washington Update LLC and a former senior partner in a Washington, D.C. law firm. He speaks regularly on legislative and regulatory developments and trends affecting investment, insurance, and retirement products. He may be reached at www.TheWashingtonUpdate.com.

Neither the author of this paper, nor any law firm with which the author may be associated, is providing legal or tax advice as to the matters discussed herein. The discussion herein is general in nature and is provided for informational purposes only. There is no guarantee as to its accuracy or completeness. It is not intended as legal or tax advice and individuals may not rely upon it (including for purposes of avoiding tax penalties imposed by the IRS or state and local tax authorities). Individuals should consult their own legal and tax counsel as to matters discussed herein and before entering into any estate planning, trust, investment, retirement, or insurance arrangement.

Last week the Supreme Court ruled that all qualifying Americans are entitled to receive subsidies to purchase health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, regardless of where in the country they live. The decision leaves the status quo in place but nonetheless raises considerations for investors and business owners:

As interpreted by the Administration, the ACA requires small business owners with more than fifty employees to provide health coverage to their employees beginning in 2016.

There remains a concern about inadequate ACA enrollment, particularly by middle- and higher-income Americans. If enrollment continues to lag, it could lead to significant premium increases, as the insurance pool will not have sufficient “good” risks to balance out the less favorable ones.

Speaker Boehner’s legal action against President Obama remains outstanding. Boehner’s suit objects to the Administration’s unilateral decisions to delay the employer mandate and to reimburse insurance carriers for losses incurred from insuring high-risk people. A Boehner victory (which most legal experts consider a long shot) could end the carrier subsidies, which likely would prompt carriers to increase premiums or cut coverage to recoup the lost revenue.

The decision avoids a decline in health care stock values. Many companies – particularly for-profit hospitals – benefit from the greater insurance coverage provided by the ACA. However, premium increases discussed above could cause the feared “death spiral”, in which higher premiums leads to fewer healthy enrollees, which leads to higher premiums, etc. That consequence could hurt health care stock values down the road.

The decision eliminates any realistic possibility of repeal of the 3.8% surtax on investment income for higher-income taxpayers. Revenue from that tax is used to pay for the bulk of the insurance subsidies that the Court upheld. There is no realistic prospect of a reduction in tax rates in sight.

Andrew H. Friedman is the principal of The Washington Update LLC and a former senior partner in a Washington, D.C. law firm. He speaks regularly on legislative and regulatory developments and trends affecting investment, insurance, and retirement products. He may be reached at www.TheWashingtonUpdate.com.

Neither the author of this paper, nor any law firm with which the author may be associated, is providing legal or tax advice as to the matters discussed herein. The discussion herein is general in nature and is provided for informational purposes only. There is no guarantee as to its accuracy or completeness. It is not intended as legal or tax advice and individuals may not rely upon it (including for purposes of avoiding tax penalties imposed by the IRS or state and local tax authorities). Individuals should consult their own legal and tax counsel as to matters discussed herein and before entering into any estate planning, trust, investment, retirement, or insurance arrangement.

In March, we posted an article about investing in a rising tax environment. We at WealthPoint thought the article in the link below would be a good follow up to that article. Please take a moment to read through it.

Please read this article written by Andrew Friedman of The Washington Update LLC

In my legislative update early this year, I noted that ongoing acrimony between Congressional Republicans and the Obama White House likely precludes agreement on any broad new legislative initiatives this year. Instead, Congress and the White House are likely to reach agreement only in the face of “forcing events” – deadlines that compel action to ward off a draconian result.

As it turns out, Congress appears to be arranging for all of the major deadlines to occur around a single date – September 30. This schedule sets up a massive negotiation for September, when Congress returns from summer recess. Investors should be aware that this negotiation is likely to lead to market volatility and some new tax changes.

I discuss the upcoming imbroglio in more detail below. But first, two quick announcements:

The Affordable Care Act is affecting retiree medical costs in a number of ways, most of them adverse. A new white paper on the site, Preparing for Rising Medical Costs in Retirement, discusses how retirees and near retirees can develop an estimate of their likely retirement medical costs and a plan to help defray those expenses. Subscribers can access the paper here.

My colleague Jeff Bush recently launched a new way for you to keep with what he and I are reading each day. You can now follow us on Facebook to see our daily must read articles: https://lnkd.in/eJAdh88 . This is our way of keeping you abreast of the latest happenings out of Washington, happenings that can affect your investments and your business.

Now back to the legislative outlook. By or around September 30, Washington must reach agreement on:

Raising the debt ceiling: Congressional borrowing authority ended on March 15, 2015. Current estimates suggest the government will run out of money and need to borrow by around early October. Failure to raise the debt limit by that time would impinge on the government’s ability to pay interest on debt outstanding, leading to default on U.S. debt.

Highway funding: Funding for summer infrastructure work (road and bridge repair) runs out on May 31. All indications are that Congress will pass a short term “patch”, funding construction through September 30. After that date, Congress will need to find a permanent source for highway funding.

Government funding: The federal government’s fiscal year ends on September 30. By that date Congress must appropriate money to run the government next year. Otherwise the federal government will shut down on October 1.

Tax extenders: Congress wants to extend a popular group of tax provisions that expired at the end of last year. Paul Ryan, the chairman of the House Ways and Means (tax writing) committee, said he wants to take up the extenders during the funding discussions in September.

Longtime readers will remember that Washington reached a similar September 30 impasse two years ago, causing the government to shut down for sixteen days beginning October 1, 2013. In that instance, with the debt limit deadline approaching, Congress and the White House agreed on a plan to reopen the government and raise the debt ceiling. That plan included caps on future spending on defense and domestic programs.

As in 2013, reaching consensus on these knotty budget issues will be challenging. With U.S. military involvement expanding, both parties agree that next year’s defense budget must be higher than the spending caps set in the wake of the 2013 budget impasse. The President, though, insists that any increase in defense spending be matched with a corresponding increase in spending on domestic programs. Republicans not only oppose additional spending on domestic programs, they are looking to further cut those expenditures.

For investors, the September 30 deadline is important for two reasons. First, as the deadline to raise the debt ceiling gets closer and Congress and the Administration (likely) continue to bicker, the markets often turn volatile. I have long said that a market decline over concern about Congress’ impending failure to act is a buying opportunity. Congress will act – likely at the last minute – at which point the market will recover. It is incumbent on investors and financial advisors to keep these “forcing event” dates in mind as investment opportunities.

Second, meeting these deadlines requires funding for new government initiatives, such as additional defense spending and funding long-term highway construction. Congress typically does not like to spend money unless it raises taxes (or cuts spending elsewhere) to defray the additional cost. Congress thus searches for “loophole closers”– provisions in the tax code that arguably provide unduly favorable benefits. (An example of a loophole closer that keeps arising – but has never been enacted – is to curtail the use of “stretch” IRAs and 401(k)s.) Thus, as September approaches, investors would be wise to consider how Congress intends to fund additional expenditures.

One way to fund these new initiatives could be corporate tax reform. As if addressing these deadlines was not enough, Chairman Ryan hopes to have a corporate tax reform plan ready by the end of the summer. (It appears that reforming individual taxes is now recognized as too difficult politically.) If Congress and the White House can agree on corporate reform (possible but difficult), then the funds from a deemed (Democrats) or optional (Republicans) one-time repatriation of foreign earnings could be used to fund the permanent highway bill. Otherwise, Congress will have to find revenue raisers to pay for highway funding and extenders; Ryan says using repatriation funding without tax reform is a no go.

Andrew H. Friedman is the principal of The Washington Update LLC and a former senior partner in a Washington, D.C. law firm. He speaks regularly on legislative and regulatory developments and trends affecting investment, insurance, and retirement products. He may be reached at www.TheWashingtonUpdate.com.

Neither the author of this paper, nor any law firm with which the author may be associated, is providing legal or tax advice as to the matters discussed herein. The discussion herein is general in nature and is provided for informational purposes only. There is no guarantee as to its accuracy or completeness. It is not intended as legal or tax advice and individuals may not rely upon it (including for purposes of avoiding tax penalties imposed by the IRS or state and local tax authorities). Individuals should consult their own legal and tax counsel as to matters discussed herein and before entering into any estate planning, trust, investment, retirement, or insurance arrangement.

WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. House of Representatives on Thursday ignored a White House veto threat and passed legislation to repeal the estate tax that hits inherited assets worth $5.4 million or more.

By a mostly partisan 240-179 vote, the Republican-backed bill will be sent to the Senate, where Democrats are expected to use procedural hurdles to try to block it. Even if it passes the Senate, it would likely fail to achieve a two-thirds majority needed to override a veto.

House passage was timed for the week when most Americans file their tax returns. Conservatives, who refer to the estate tax as the “death tax,” have long railed against it, arguing it hurts the families of small business owners and farmers.

“It’s past time to repeal this unacceptable tax. Every American deserves the ability to pass their life’s savings to their kids,” said Representative Tom Graves, a conservative Republican from Georgia.

Repealing the tax would boost the federal deficit by about $269 billion over 10 years, according to Congress’ Joint Committee on Taxation.

Few Americans pay the 40 percent tax on assets above the $5.4 million exclusion amount. About 5,400 estates, equal to 0.2 percent of taxpayers, will owe such taxes in 2015, according to the JCT.

Recently, Ryan and Tim were asked by STAFDA, a large national trade association we have spoken to, to write an article for their upcoming trade magazine. This article highlights the impact of collaboration with an entrepreneurial family group and their advisory team.

We at WealthPoint continually strive to provide insight to our clients and advisory community. The attached piece was written by M Financial and discusses life insurance policy issues that have been encountered through the years. Please click the link to review the white paper.

Securities offered through Kestra Investment Services, Member FINRA/SIPC (Kestra IS). Investment advisory services may be offered through Kestra Advisory Services (Kestra AS), an affiliate of Kestra IS. WealthPoint, LLC is a member firm of PartnersFinancial. Kestra IS and Kestra AS are not affiliated with WealthPoint, LLC or PartnersFinancial. Not all products and services referenced on this site are available in every state or through every representative listed. For additional information please contact Kestra IS compliance at 737-443-2483. Kestra IS and Kestra AS are not Certified Public Accounting firms.
Check the background of this Firm and/or investment professional on FINRA's BrokerCheck. Social Media Disclosure link here. WealthPoint, LLC is independently owned and operated. WealthPoint, LLC and its agents are presently licensed to sell traditional life insurance in AZ, CA, CO, IL, IN, KS, MA, MD, MI, MO, MN, NC, NM, NV, NY, OR, RI, TX, VA, WA. Insurance services are limited to residents of the above listed states. Information relating to securities is intended for use by individuals residing in AZ, CA, CO, NM, and NY only. This site is not intended as an offer to sell securities, which may be done only after proper delivery of a prospectus and a client suitability review.
The following trademarks are owned by WealthPoint, LLC; WealthPoint®, Know your story.™, Still Wisdom™, Instinct Verification™, The Pulse of Progress™, IV™, Singular Story™.